"False Positive" is the name of a common practice in Colombia in which government actors (commonly military), choose an innocent victim to change their identity with another from some dangerous criminal fugitive, who then is presented to the media (dead or alive) showing the state's triumph over criminal groups.

The story that inspired this film was born from an emotional anonymous letter posted on the Internet in which a young woman denounced the “false positive” of her father, who she claimed was only a poor gardener accused of being an infamous criminal boss, extradited and locked in a High security jail, victim of an identity that didn't belong to him. After investigating in depth, Javier Bernal Arevalo found out that no official news media records of the case existed. But the letter became viral; presenting supposed photos, videos and all sorts of narratives that connected the case with other similar, creating a modern mythology and inspiring the "low budget" aesthetic of the film.

Javier Bernal Arevalo

My practice as an artist has led me to investigate the origin of images from the process of creation of myths, and how new technological media such as the Internet have enhanced this process that gives shape to the contemporary image in art. I am mainly interested in animation, drawing and painting and how these media are mixed with other media such as cinema and installation. "Composite Sketches" is the result of my process in an MA in arts in Central Saint Martins, London, it was filmed in Poland.